The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1887-04-07
LIFE ON THE CORAL KEYS.
Odd Customs of People in the Gulf
of Mexico-Nice Types of Men That
Live IN Mutual Hate.

OF Me4lcO-NIc0 Types Oh McA AANs
Live IN Mutual Hate.
Perhaps there is no place in the Uni
ted States so much talked about in New
York and so little known as Key West,
writes correspondent from that place
to The New York Mail and Erpress. 1t
is generally associated with cigars. I'M
agine an island extending from the
Harlem river to the Battery, and run
ming in width from Grand street ferry
to the Bowery, and you have the di-
mensions of Key West. 1t is the larg-
est of series of coral islands, called
keys, which dot the ocean at the south
ern end of the peninsula of Florida. 1t
is entirely away from the mainland,
which is only to be reached by steamer.
In that it differs from the Manhattan
island, for you have your bridges for
crossing the Harlem. But on this coral
reef is a city, containing twenty thous-
and inhabitants, consisting of Conchs,
Cubans, and negroes, with few Amer
leans. Perhaps the island has bright
future before it, for it has had no past
and very little present While other
cities in the union have been up and
doing, this coral key has been asleep in
the gulf 1t is the most southerly part
of the union-in fact the very end of
the United States. The city is the only
one in the country where neither snow
or frost has ever been seen; the temper
ature is about 20 OF 80 degrees in the
day and about IS at night. Communi-
cation is kept up with the rest of the
world by means of line of steamers
from New York, another from New Or
leans, and small steamer two or
three times week by way of Tampa,
Fla. By the last we get New York pa
pers about three days old. The island
is as flat as a pancake, the highest
point being only 12 feet above the level
of the sea. One would think that dur
ing the storm sea would roll over the
island and drown out poor little Key
West. The city proper is densely pop
ulated, but is as unlike an American
city as possible. All the houses are
made of wood and built quite plainly.
There is no show of ornamentation or
decoration, to say nothing of what is
called architecture. Once in while
you may detect something that looks
like lattice work, but it is plain, and is
not intended to display anything.
Many of the stores have no signs upon
or about them, and the storekeepers
look as if they didn't care whether they
sold anything OF not. There are no
hotels, and those who desire a tempo
rary residence have to hunt about for a
clearinghouse.
When it is found, the boarders would
consider New York boarding house,
derided as it SO often is. palace in &C.
comodation for eating and sleeping
compared to the one in Key West.
The streets are wide and dusty, for
there are no sprinklers. In fact, wa
ter is such luxury in the dry season
that it cannot be wasted in sprinkling
the streets. 1t is rain water caught in
cisterns when the heavens furnish a
supply, and is often carried from place
10 place in pals supported by yoke
from the sholders. An attempt was
once made to drive an artesian we'll;
but the water when reached was so
brackish that it could only be used for
the extinguishing of fires. The dust
flies continually. The roadway is
hard, being the solid coral rock itself.
There is no surface soil. What passes
for soil is nothing more than this rock
ground up. 1t is nice thing to have
blown over new black clothing, and
still a nicer thing to get out of the
cloth afterward. As before stated, the
population consists mainly of Cubans.
Conchs, and negroes. The Conchs are
in reality natives of the Bahama islands,
but every body in Key West calls them
by that name. The Cubans dislike the
Conchs and the Conchs detest the Gu
bans, while both together hate the ne
groes. A happy state of society may
therefore be imagined. They are as
distinct as can be, but their localities
are known as Conchtown, niggertown,
and Cuban village. Each has it's dis
tinct amusements, occupations. and
turmoil. The few Americans seem to
be always planning how best to get
away from the island. Cigar-making g is
the principal occupation of the Cubans,
and there is plenty of work for them,
as Key West contains 125 cigar factor
les. 1t is said on good authority, that
10000, 600 cigars are shipped away
from the island every year.
The Cuban is not very strong look
ing. His sports are gambling and
rooster-tighting. The women are fairly
good looking, giving to wearing high
heels, lace shawls, and face-powder.
Both men and women smoke and chat
ter like magpies, They stand around
in crowds and make noise more like
a lot of geese than human beings. Their
food is principally oil, pork, bananas,
and coffee. Their coffee is good, but
made so strong that it will stain the
cup from which it is drank. When in
a restaurant the Cubans appear to talk
all at once, each trying, as it were. to
drown the others voice, and gesticulat-
ing rs if about to strike each other on
the face. The odor of the Cuban re-
staurant Is generally too strong for the
olfactory nerves of one brought up in
New York. The Conchs are the fisher
men of the island and the gatherers of
sponges. They are large, rough class
of men, and apparently very ignorant
One marked feature is their accent,
which is considered the characteristic
of the Londoner-the dropping of the
aspirate where needed and using it ex-
cessively where not wanted. They
use their fists when fighting, while the
Cubans are too ready with the revolver
or stiletto. The negroes are employed
in Key West as elsewhere, in mental
labor. and are as lazy as in the otheg
southern states. Together these three
races form very MIXED and far from
harmonious society, one that is not
likely to be met with anywhere else in
the United States.
The Marriage Settlement Idea.
The idea Of marriage settlements,
which as general thing is repugnant
to Americans, is not bad one. 1t
makes woman independent. and it